My friend had to dump his girl friend because, an astrologer said it is not good for his family and his life. Another friend of mine quit smoking because the astrologer said that his life will end if he don’t quit. He would not dare quit if his friends said so, he would not quit because his doctor said so, but because his astrologer said so.

We need to remember this fact, his friends are his well wishers, his doctor is a trained medical professional. He is ready to risk by disregarding their words. But he would not disregard a man with a chalk, thirteen square boxes and few shells(Stuff old school astrologers use for drawing the birth chart).

Why?

Why is that, Indians blindly believe astrologers, most of them reply like “why risk it?”

Cynics counter, How the hell can he predict my future when he can’t say which movie is being played in the theater next to him. But the same cynic will follow what astrologer said bitching about him on the outside.

If a radical places a gun in an astrologer’s mouth and ask about the astrologer’s future. The astrologer can only stutter.

There is a small folk story regarding a small evil boy and a scholar. The small boy had a small live bird cupped and hidden in his hands, he asks the scholar whether the bird is alive or dead! His aim is to prove the scholar wrong. He is ready to clasp and kill the bird if the scholar says it is alive, and leave it alive if the scholar says that it is dead. The scholar smiled and said the following words “It is in your hands”.

In a way, all of us believe that the life we are living is entirely in our hands, the choices we make which comes from the chemical reactions in the brain which computes all the different permutations and decide whether to have either Coke or Pepsi. What is the role of astrologers then? And how are they able to judge the course of chemical reactions which is going to happen in our brain. How are our marriage, career, education and happiness controlled by the planets which are far far away?

Let me look into this in a critical manner which a person of no background of astrology can still read (atleast that is what I am going to try.)

To begin with the birth time, which is used for all the calculations. There are many different( I think four or five) birth time used for calculations for an individual. The time when head of the baby touches the ground for the first time, the time when the baby cries for the first time, the time at which the umbilical cord is being cut, the time at which the semen and egg unite(I don’t think that is easy to find out). The first three time can be taken for calculations. “The time aspect” of the birth is completely scientific since it is “time”. No argument over there.

The birth place, which is the second important thing is taken with regard to latitude and longitude. It is a completely accepted scientific method to describe a position. The astrologer uses these two inputs to formulate the birth chart, or the position of different planets and constellations. By planets, I mean the Sanskrit word “graham” which can be translated to house, which can be extended to ‘which protects you’, ‘which can influence you’, ‘which can arrest/inhibit you’ etc. In that meaning, Sun, Moon, Earth are all planets. In Vedic astrology, a total of 9 planets are considered. Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu. Earth is not considered because, the observer is in the Earth. There are two imaginary planets as well in Vedic astrology “rahu” and “ketu”. They are not exactly imaginary rather invisible, They are basically South lunar node and North lunar node. The position of these planets are “calculated” based on the time and place of birth with respect to constellations. This part is completely scientific, because it is astronomy. Any astrologer can reproduce the same results at all times. This proves one of the basis of scientific study which is reproducibility. I put the word calculated in quotes because the process of calculation is purely mathematical, what is done in figuring the birth chart is also purely mathematical.

Now comes the attribution, every planet is given qualities/characteristics/attributes, every planet is given further more attributes based on its position. Who has given this attributes, no body has an answer. Whether it is scientific, Nobody is sure. But experience does seem to accept the truth of these attributes. These attributes is said to have an impact on physical, mental and spiritual characteristics of a person. That is the planets or ‘graham’ influence these three aspects of a human being. It also influences the phase of a human life due to the positioning of planets at a given point of time based on the birth chart of that person.

If you have a doubt on whether the planet has an effect on you. I have a few questions. Does the wall color on your room impact you? Does the wallpaper on your screen impact you? Does the season impact you? Does the day of the week impact you? If these trivial(may be not) things can impact you in a tangible way. Only thing I can say is that “everything in this world impacts everything else”.

Now comes the funny part, the prediction part performed by the astrologers, it is completely unscientific. The horoscopes given on magazines, websites on how your day is going to be is even more absurd. The prediction part performed by the astrologers are based on his knowledge about the attributes, his knowledge about the situation etc. Just like any doctor, or engineer, if he is good in his knowledge, he will be able to give a sound advice or able to mention the situation. But still, prediction is unscientific. If you ask an engineer whether plastic is better or metal. He may or may not answer. Because a thousand factors need to be considered, the application, the metal under consideration, so on and so forth. Just like there is a good doctor, there is a good astrologer as well who knows his science.

I don’t want to keep on write and bore you. But one question might be lingering in everyone’s inquisitive minds. Why is it that the birth can determine the aspects of one’s complete life?

My honest answer would be “Karma”. The actions of your past life determine the birth of your present life, and thereby the implications in it, If you ask me whether that is fair, yes it is fair. The world or universe has to be fair. Your actions are not determined by any planet. Do good deeds, it’ll protect you.(Stop preaching, Santhosh!)

Coming back to astrology, let me say one last point, Astrology is called Jyotisha in Sanskrit. Which means study of light or rays. The light and rays given out by the planets. I guess. LOL.

“Astrology is an ocean which extends from one horizon to the other both in the perceivable three-dimensional space frame and time frame. We are an observer observing finite number of elements observed by infinite number of elements.”

-Santhosh K Ramachandran

"Like gravity, karma is so basic we often don't even notice it."
- Sakyong Mipham